Norway fails to fulfil whaling quota

Norway will not be able to fulfil its whaling quota this year in what conservation groups are claiming is proof that the government should no longer support the industry.

Since the whaling season started on April 1, fishermen have caught about half the number of animals allowed by the Norwegian government - around 500 minke whales out of 1,052, the highest quota ever allowed. Norway is the only country in the world to conduct commercial whaling.

Environmentalists say fewer whales have been hunted this year because Norwegians' taste for the mammal has declined. "It shows that it is no longer cool to eat whale," says Truls Guwolsen from the Norwegian branch of Greenpeace. "The market is disappearing."

The season ends on August 31 and government officials have admitted that fishermen will not catch the allowed amount by then. "They can't fill the quota this year," says Harvard P Johansen from the Norwegian ministry of fisheries.

However, the government says rocketing oil prices and bad weather, not falling demand, are to blame for the low catch. "Petrol has become very expensive. No one wants to go over long distances, as they don't want the expenses," Mr Johansen explains.

In addition, he says, "the weather conditions have not been very good this year and you need them to be calm to fish the whale. At the beginning of the season, some producers could not deliver enough to cover demand."

The Scandinavian country resumed commercial whaling in 1993, despite an international moratorium put in place in 1986 to protect the species from extinction. Japan and Iceland also hunt whales, but only do so for scientific research. Despite this, a large number of whale steaks end up in fish markets every year.

Conservationists have long argued that all forms of whale hunting should be banned because it is cruel and stocks are too low for hunting to be sustainable.

"The political will to protect controversial whaling is far bigger than demand for whale meat and whalers' willingness to catch whales," says Mr Guwolsen.

This year's quota of 1,052 is a big increase from last year's of 797. Around 30 ships have been allowed to hunt whales this season.

For many Norwegians, especially for those living in the Arctic north where whaling is considered a normal economic activity, eating whale is as ordinary as eating cod or salmon. Whale steaks are available at supermarkets and are served in restaurants.

"Whales and seals are natural resources that we can exploit. Hunting is necessary to maintain the balance between the species in the sea," says Jan Skjaervoe, general secretary of the Association of Norwegian Fishermen.

In recent years, Norway, Japan and Iceland have been spearheading a campaign to overturn the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. They achieved a breakthrough in June, when they secured a crucial vote to overturn the ban at the last meeting of the International Whaling Commission on the Caribbean island of St Kitts.

A majority of countries voted for a motion that says the moratorium is no longer necessary and blames whales for depleting fish stocks. The majority was narrow (33 nations to 32) and fell short of the 75% of votes needed to overturn the ban. However, it was the first time in 20 years that the pro-whaling nations have won a vote at the IWC.

The vote attracted further controversy after Japan was accused of buying the votes of poorer countries with international aid money. Many of these nations, such as Mongolia, Mali or Belize, are either landlocked or do not have a whaling tradition. The Japanese government has always denied the accusations.

After the vote was passed, environmentalists warned that "the welfare and future of whales remains seriously in question". Niki Entrup, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, added: "This is a return to the 1970s dark days when whales roamed the seas unprotected."